


The Journey

by rushii



Category: Original Work, Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Cats, Original Character(s), Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-03
Updated: 2017-07-03
Packaged: 2018-11-15 03:11:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11222061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rushii/pseuds/rushii
Summary: How the new Clans, HeatherClan, LakeClan, DarkClan, and FernClan, first came to be.





	The Journey

**Author's Note:**

> hey this isn't super angsty can u believe it

With the full moon shining high in the sky, two cats were trotting through the moor with the sounds of angry shrieks and the smell of blood far behind them. One of the cats was a gray tabby she-cat, with ebony paws and midnight blue eyes; the other was a brown and white spotted tom, with light amber eyes. No cats were out besides the two; they all were either in their camp, or at the vicious Gathering that the felines had just left. Despite the full moon, the truce was broken, and StarClan did not stop the fight; several cats were dead, and even the leaders were fighting one another. It was the reason the two cats had left in the first place.

The spotted tom cleared his throat as they walked, "Do you think anyone has noticed we're gone yet?" He hesitantly asked the gray tabby. The she-cat pondered her answer before she replied with what she whole-heartedly believed.

"No. They were all fighting.. not even Lilyflower noticed me leave," She replied, her voice grief-stricken. The tom stared at her for a few seconds as they watched, before he turned his head to look back at the ground in front of them. They had climbed to the top of a hill, and were steadily walking towards the mountains that the Clans walked through on the Great Journey. The she-cat stopped in her tracks, and slowly turned around to face the place the territories that they were about to leave. The tom stopped beside her, looking just as upset at leaving as her, despite deciding himself to follow the RiverClan cat as she left the island.

They both spent a few seconds staring down at the lake one more time, as the cool night air blew through their fur. It was almost scarily peaceful, after the war that was taking place at the Gathering. The two were too far away to hear the battle cries anymore.

"I'm going to miss this place," The tabby whispered, almost to herself. Tears were pricking at the corners of her eyes, and her claws shone under the moonlight as they gripped the ground under her. The spotted tom leaned into the tabby's fur, and the two sat close to each other for a few moments, silently offering the other comfort. "I hope they can forgive us."

The tom glanced over at the she-cat, "Of course they will, Lakesplash. It's not like we've done something not worth forgiving," he mewed with a shrug. The gray tabby -- now identified as Lakesplash -- looked at the spotted tom for a few seconds with a look of shock on her face, before abruptly standing up and turning to walk away. She didn't look back again. The tom stared after her, "Hey, what'd I say wrong?" He mewed over his shoulder, before twisting around and leaping after his companion.

The two walked in silence after that, and continued to walk on their journey. Eventually, the moon, which was once directly above their heads, was now setting from in front of them, behind the mountains they were walking towards. The sun was steadily rising from the direction that the two felines had started out from. The two had considerably slowed since the final glance at their homes, and were now leaning against each other for support. They spotted a large, sheltering oak tree, and went into the shade that it created.

The tom let out a huge and loud yawn, before looking expectedly at the black-pawed feline beside him. Lakesplash stared back with a dumbfounded look, and twitched her ear. "What? You don't expect me to hunt for you, do you, Darkstem?" Lakesplash asked, purring with amusement. Darkstem ducked his head and grinned sheepishly up at the older warrior.

"Sorry, haha.." He murmured, with a look of embarrassment on his face. Lakesplash lightly head-butt her friend in the shoulder, before walking towards the forest in search of prey. The brown and white splotched tom quickly followed after her, with his mouth hanging open, trying to sniff out a mouse or vole. The two walked for a few moments before Darkstem stopped and flicked his ears in a direction, listening. He could smell a hare! He gestured to Lakesplash with his tail to go around it, a stalking technique that, luckily, the two knew.

As Lakesplash walked in a wide circle to get behind the rabbit, Darkstem silently stalked to a holly bush that as a couple tail-lengths away from the brown hare. The smaller creature was nibbling on grass, completely unaware of what was about to happen, or the cats only a few moments away from attacking. After a few heartbeats, Darkstem saw Lakesplash flick the tip of her tail -- she was in position. He waited a few seconds more, just to be sure, before jumping out and yowling loudly at the brown creature. It froze in terror for a fraction of a second, before racing off towards where Lakesplash was hiding in wait. As it reached the ferns she was hiding in, she launched out at the creature, and landed on top of it.

She killed it with a swift bite to the neck, and proudly picked it up. It's legs dragged on the ground as she carried it to the dappled tom, and the two returned to the large oak tree, and began to share the prey among each other.

After the last piece of hare was stripped away, and nothing but it's bones remained, the two were curling up to sleep. Darkstem let out another huge yawn, before resting his head on Lakesplash's shoulders, and the two slowly drifted away into sleep.

\--

The two cats had slept the entire day under the tree, and when they awoke again, they noticed that the sun as already rising up again; it was almost sunhigh, to be exact. Lakesplash was the first to her paws, and stretched herself out as Darkstem sleepily washed his face in the noon light. After the silver tabby had stopped stretching, she turned her head to look at the feline friend beside her. "We should hunt again," she meowed, before walking past the tom and disappearing into the trees. Darkstem stared after her with a confused look at his face for a moment, before jumping to his paws and running after the tabby.

As he caught up to her, she had already caught a pigeon. Darkstem cleared his throat, "Oh, you.. already got something," he awkwardly started, as Lakesplash turned her gaze to him, "we can share that, right?" She had a look of confusion on her face at the question, and picked up the bird with her claws. She pushed it towards the tom, and nodded to him.

"Yeah, why not? We shared the last piece of food," she said, "and we're journeying together; we have no reason not to share our prey."

The tom looked slightly embarrassed as he eyed the bird, "yeah, well.." he seemed to try to come up with a reason for asking to share, but a moment later twitched his ear and looked at his paws, "uh.. sorry." He quietly mewed, before crouching down and biting into the pigeon. Lakesplash rolled her eyes with a purr of amusement, before she walked over and joined Darkstem.

When the two had finished eating, they returned to the oak tree that they had slept under the night before. "Where should we go now?" Darkstem asked his companion, glancing around. The she-cat nodded her head towards the mountains that they had head towards the night before.

"There, for now," She said to the other cat, "We can decided what to do after that when we get to the base of it."

"It's pretty far-"

"It's the only option."

The tom had his jaws open, as if about to continue his statement, but closed them a second later with a nod to the older cat that stood a bit in front of him. Lakesplash had a small smile on her face, and waved her tail at the tom, before beginning the walk again, towards the mountains. The tom followed suit, just behind the silver tabby. The two continued on the journey, this time conversing instead of walking in silence.

"What do we plan to do when we get to.." Darkstem started, paused, made a vague gesture with his tail, and stared at Lakesplash. The silver tabby didn't reply at first, but eventually she looked over her shoulder at Darkstem and meowed,

"We start over."

Darkstem stopped for a moment and started at Lakesplash with a shocked look on his face. "You mean make new Clans?!" He yelped, as Lakesplash paused and looked over at the dappled tom. She raised an eyebrow at the other cat.

"Yes. Is that a problem?" She asked him as he continued to stare at her. A few moments passed before Darkstem returned from his frozen, shocked, stare.

"I, uh.. how do you plan to.. do that? Get four new Clans? Or two? Wait, how many are you going to make? This seem like a bad idea, Lakesplash-"

"Darkstem.."

"-How are we supposed to do that? I mean, who actually knows how to do that? Who would even want to join?-"

"Darkstem..!"

Kittypets? Loners? Who would leave their home to live a life like ours? I'm pretty sure that this won't work, Lakesplash, so maybe let's not-"

"Darkstem!"

Darkstem finally stopped talking, and covered his mouth with his tail embarrassingly. "Sorry. I ramble, sometimes."

Lakesplash snorted and flicked her tail-tip, "Yeah, I noticed. Calm down, alright? We'll just do what the original Clan leaders did!"

"Which is..?" The tom quietly asked, his voice muffled by his tail.

Lakesplash turned around and started walking again, with Darkstem racing to catch up. He walked next to her, their paws steps perfectly timed with one another. A few more heartbeats passed before the silver she-cat replied, "I don't know, if I'm honest. Rogues, loners, and strays, probably. Ask 'em to join us. Should be easy enough, right? I'm sure we can create at least one Clan, worst case scenario," she said, flicking her tail in thought. She obviously had thought hard about this, probably considering it before she even left RiverClan.

"What should we name our Clan? Or Clans?" Darkstem asked after a minute, turning his head to look at the blue-eyed cat, with a new look of ambition and excitement in his eyes. Lakesplash purred at his now enthusiasm, and looked at him with a look of warmth in her eyes. He purred, too, in return, and looked proudly ahead at the mountains. "Thunderstar named ThunderClan after himself, and it's the same with all the other Clans, right?" The brown and white tom asked. Lakesplash nodded her head.

"We'll call the first one LakeClan. I am the one who wanted to leave and start anew first, after all," The silver tabby mewed contently. Darkstem had a grin on his face at the claim.

"Then I guess we're going to make a LakeClan, full of cats who love to fish and nearly drown for fun!" The two laughed at the speckled tom's joke, and continued their journey happily.

LakeClan was only a dream for now.. soon, it will be real. We just need to reach the mountains, and go from there.

**Author's Note:**

> AS I WAS MAKING THE LAST COUPLE PARTS OF THE STORY I FOUND A SPIDER AND MY SISTER AND I SPENT LIKE AN HOUR TRACKING IT AND TRYING TO GET RID OF IT AAAAAAA IM SO TIRED AND STILL SCARED I HATE SPIDERS JFAKSNLK  
> I HOPE U ENJOYED THIS BC I FEEL NOT GOOD


End file.
